ISLAMABAD, Sept 6: The opposition in the National Assembly Wednesday alleged that US agencies were operating in Pakistan and had picked up a number of people from different parts of the country.

They castigated the government in its failure to secure early release of the Pakistanis languishing in Guantanamo Bay prison, including a businessman from Karachi Saifullah Piracha.

The matter was raised in the House by members belonging to Muttahida Majlis-e-Ammal (MMA) including Dr Farid Ahmad Piracha, Muhammad Hussain Mehanti, Mrs Aisha Munawar, Asadullah Bhutto and Liaquat Baloch through a calling attention notice.

Farid Piracha alleged that Saifullah Piracha was kidnapped from Karachi airport and taken to Guantanamo Bay by US agencies. He said it is not the matter of Saifullah Piracha alone and a number of people were missing from different parts of the country and their family members had also staged a protest demonstration in front of the parliament house.

Aisha Munawar said before Saifullah Piracha was picked up, his son Uzair Piracha was also taken into custody. She said no serious efforts were being made to secure their release. She said the wife of Saifullah Piracha was not in good health. The Minister of State for Interior Zafar Warraich said there were 12 Pakistanis in the Guantanamo Bay prison while 20 Pakistanis were in a US detention centre in Bagram.

He dispelled the impression that US agencies were operating in Pakistan and said Saifullah Piracha had been picked up from Bangkok and not from Karachi.

He said Piracha was trapped by his American business partner who asked him to come to Bangkok for a business meeting. He said Pakistan had not handed over any of its nationals to the United States and those in the US detention centres had been picked up from Afghanistan or some other foreign country.

About Saifullah Piracha he said, he had a business set-up in the US, but had come back to Karachi. He said Piracha was not being released as he is accused of facilitating Al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan and he had confessed to have met Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect of the 9/11 terrorist plot.

He said his son Uzair Piracha has been convicted in the US and he had confessed before the court that his father was involved in all his activities.

About the protest by relatives of missing people outside the Parliament House, he said the whereabouts of the people missing were unknown as they had gone on Jihad.

Muhammad Hussain Mehanti rejected the claim of the Minister that Farid Piracha was picked up from Bangkok and said according to the information available, he did not reach Bangkok.